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Page 22 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 21. 1986
Arts & Entertainment
Israel’s ‘Sesame Street’ now on video
by Susan Birnbaum
JTA
—NEW YORK
“Sesame Street," the popular
children’s program that made
stars of the Muppets and the
alphabet, made aliyah three years
ago, becoming the truly Israeli
“Rehov Sumsum."
Oscar the Grouch is reprised
by his cousin Moishe Oofnik and
the gentle Big Bird is replaced by
a blunt orange-quilled porcupine
named Kippi ben Kippod (Kippi,
son of Porcupine).
Bert and Ernie keep their looks
and personalities, but not their
names. But Bentz and Arik, like
Kermit Hatzfardei’a, retain their
voices while speaking Hebrew.
While borrowing heavily from
the techniques and concepts of
its American parent, “Rehov
Sumsum” incorporates the sights
and sounds of Israel as well as
Middle Eastern nuances.
In an effort to bring this look
at Israeli culture to American
children, “Rehov Sumsum” and
its parent show are being inte
grated, debuting as “Shalom
Sesame” with host Itzhak Perl
man, the virtuoso violinist born
in Tel Aviv and now living in
New York.
Five half-hour videocassettes
of “Shalom Sesame” will be avail
able by Hanuka, to be purchased
in select American cities through
Jewish organizations for home
use or classroom. Each program
focuses on a different theme,
including entire programs on
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and kibbutz
life. The shows are accompanied
by a family magazine with les
sons, games and stories.
Sales arrangements, like those
for production, are the responsi
bility of the American Friends of
Rehov Sumsum, a volunteer
group created for both projects
with Lewis Bernstein as its exec
utive director.
Bernstein “wears three yar-
mulkes,” as he puts it, being as
well the project director of “Rehov
Sumsum” for the Children’s Tel
evision Workshop (CTW) and
executive producer of “Shalom
Sesame.” An observant Jew,
Bernstein has been research di
rector at CTW for 11 years. He
was in on the conception of “Sha
lom Sesame” with Eli Evans,
president of the Charles H. Rev-
son Foundation, the New York-
based philanthropist fund that
provided more than SI million
for both shows.
The idea of “Rehov Sumsum”
and the adaptation of “Shalom
Sesame” were part of a project
five years ago, Evans told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The
reason that we went ahead with
'Rehov Sumsum’ was that there
would be an American dimen
sion to it,” Evans said.
“The idea, which for me goes
back to 1969 and the beginning
of‘Sesame Street,’ was to try to
create a marriage between the
CTW here and the Israeli gov
ernment’s Instructional Television
Center,” said Evans, who in those
days was on the staff of the Car
negie Foundation that was put
ting together the original “Sesame
Street.”
“The impression that Israel
gives in this country is one of
tension, warfare and controversy,
and here are images of neighbor
hood, friendship, cooperation and
love,” he said, adding, “One can’t
measure the impact of this on
kids 20 years from now, but it
could be really profound.”
“Shalom Sesame” copies “Rehov
Sumsum’”s pattern of putting
together people of different back
grounds—Sephardim with Ash
kenazim, boys with yarmulkes
playing with non-religious Jew
ish children and Arab children.
On “Rehov Sumsum” live Macram,
an Arab college student; Miki,
an Israeli young woman who
owns the fix-it shop; Chaim, an
observant Jew from Ethiopia:
and Ofirah, the youngest grown
up on the street, whose parents
came from Yemen in 1948. Ofirah
teaches Yemenite songs, and vis
iting singers add music from other
cultures.
In the first half-hour show,
Perlman sits in the ancient Roman
amphitheater in Caesarea sur
rounded by children and tells
them, “The Romans used this
place for violence, and we use it
for violins.”
Perlman represents the sabra,
the native son who knows Israeli
culture from birth and American
culture as an adult. “Do you
know me?” he asks in a take-off
from his credit card commercial,
and then takes off on a tour of
Israeli sites, from a cafe on Tel
Aviv’s Dizengoff Street to Arab
and Jewish villages throughout
the land.
American television and
Broadway star Bonnie Franklin
plays the visitor. Franklin really
did make her first trip to Israel
for this program, and in the
shows she is constantly asking
questions and learning Hebrew
words. “We carefully cast two
different roles for our hosts: the
insider and the first-time visitor,”
Bernstein said. Evans added: “The
fact that Franklin is recognized
as Anne Romano (on the TV
show “One Day at a Time”), a
mother, is very powerful for chil
dren, important especially when
kids can teach her because they
know more than she.”
In “Shalom Sesame’”s open
ing scene, the viewer is literally
caught up on a magic carpet as
Bert and Ernie pack and mount a
flying prayer rug that zips past
the skyline of New York, across
the ocean and Europe, and comes
in for a landing past the domes
and minarets of Jerusalem. This
was the first time Bert and Ernie
have been animated, Bernstein
said.
Within moments, animated
animals and dancing lines are
teaching the word “Shalom,” and
chugging choo-choo train of two
cars is teaching the number
“shtayim” (two). The Israeli ani
mation was done on Kibbutz Ein
Gedi. A novel scenario pits Ber-
nie and Ernie as Bentz and Ernie,
Bentz telling Ernie in Hebrew
not to eat cookies in bed and
Ernie answering in English, giv
ing the audience a feel for the
sound of the Hebrew rather than
teaching individual words.
The overt curriculum of “Sha
lom Sesame,” said Bernstein, is
to introduce people and places.
And as it plays as a unique trav
elogue, it imparts the issue of
social tolerance and introduces
Hebrew as a second language.
Bernstein said his dream is that
“American-Jewish children who
are already affiliated and know
something about their heritage
will feel a sense of validation that
they are recognized on TV, and
for unaffiliated children, I hope
that this will be an introduction
and motivation for them to learn
about Israel and their heritage.”
The production of “Shalom
Sesame” cut financial corners
wherever it could, using children
of staff and actors and paying
basic union wages to the crew.
Evans admitted that the program
was envisioned for broadcast,
but in order to clear the broad
casting rights, he said, would
require a “substantial financial
commitment. But we’re hoping
to do so in the future.” Even with
the long list of financial contrib
utors, much more funding is
necessary to produce more seg
ments and to even begin to hope
to air the show.
The cassettes can be ordered
for $34.95 each, including the
magazine with the first tape, or
$150 for all five, plus magazine,
from American Friends of Rehov
Sumsum, One Lincoln Plaza, New
York, N.Y. 10023; (212) 595-9132.
Amy Leventhal
will give recital
at Emory Univ.
Amy Leventhal, principal vio
list with the Atlanta Ballet, will
perform at 8:15 p.m. Monday,
Nov. 24, at Emory University’s
Cannon Chapel.
The program will include works
by Mozart, Schubert, Bolling and
Joplin, in addition to calypso,
jazz and Indian music.
Leventhal is a former student
of Abraham Skernick at Indiana
University, where she won the
1979 Viola Competition and
earned a master’s degree in 1980.
She served on the faculty of the
University of Alabama from 1980
to 1983.
Leventhal has performed with
numerous symphonies and or
chestras including the Dance
Theatre of Harlem, Tuscaloosa
Symphony Orchestra and Mobile
Opera. She performs with the
Chamber Music Groups, Music
DaCamera and the Phoenix
Quartet.
Admission is $5. Tickets will
be available at the door. For
more information, call 727-4449
or 874-7632.
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